Choosing a Daycare

When choosing a daycare here are some leading reasons behind the choice of child care preference. Parents in Canada cited various reasons for their decision to use a particular type of child care. The majority, one-third (33%) of parents indicated that the location of the child care service was the leading reason behind their decision. This was followed by a feeling they could trust the daycare provider (18%), the affordability of care (11%), and the feeling that it was the only option available (11%). These reasons were the same, regardless of the age of the child, but played a very important factor when choosing child care.

This (Figure 6) chart actually is a little surprising to me considering child care centers are notably more expensive than family child care homes. So for child care centers to be a preference over family child care homes is a little shocking even though these stats are outdated as of 1995 it would be interesting to see where it would stand now as maybe there was a lack of in-home daycares at that time. While the rest of the chart makes sense that low-income families are more likely to rely on relatives and less likely to rely on center-based arrangements.

Lack of daycare options isn’t uncommon though. Waitlists for infants can be over a year at some daycare facilities. “When there’s fewer licensed childcare providers, there’s less access to care,” said Dr. Susan Savage of Los Angeles County’s Child Care Resource Center. And with fewer childcare options, the costs of care only goes up for cash-strapped parents fortunate enough to find an opening. The state of California has seen as 26% decline in the supply of licensed family child care homes since the recession in 2008.

Cost of Daycare

Licensed or Unlicensed Care

Daycare providers operate their family child care home as a licensed provider but some states with some regulations allow for daycare providers to operate unlicensed or license-exempt. This will vary from state to state. Be sure to check with your state’s regulations and guidelines to make sure you or you child care provider is in compliance. In most states relatives are license-exempt. Examples of relatives who may be license-exempt child care providers are spouses, parents, adult siblings, aunts, uncles, and first cousins. Step-relatives and grandparents may also be license-exempt.

Daycare Providers vs Babysitters

Daycare providers are not babysitters and should never be referred to as a babysitter nor a nanny. Instead they should be referred to as daycare providers, child care providers, or even early educators. This article breaks down each type of child care category for you to reference and help you differentiate between a daycare provider and a babysitter. The majority do not get paid an hourly rate and are not used on an as-needed basis.

There are also provider to child ratio requirements that must be met in each state.

If you are looking to become a daycare provider there may be some pre-licensing readiness guides available for your state. Before you receive a Family Child Care Home license, the licensing agency will visit your home to make sure that your home meets licensing requirements. These checklists of requirements will help you get ready for your visit from your program analyst when starting your daycare.

What is Daycare? Everything You Need To Know About Family Child Care Homes

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Interestingly enough, I'm a home daycare provider at Shadow Oaks Daycare in Thousand Oaks, California. Before Shadow Oaks Daycare, I worked at a promotional advertising company in the advertising specialty industry as a System Analyst and Cost Accountant. On my spare time I like to create websites using WordPress.